Voting Station

Bill Ayers

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Educator

The Resume

    (1944- )
    Born in Glen Ellyn, Illinois
    Co-founder of the radical Weather Underground, a.k.a. The Weathermen (1969)
    Fugitive (1970-80)
    Professor of Education at the University of Illinois
    School reform advocate
    Wrote 'Good Preschool Teachers' (1989), 'To Teach: The Journey of a Teacher' (1993), 'A Simple Justice: The Challenge of Small Schools' (2000) and 'Handbook of Social Justice in Education' (2008)
    Wrote the memoir 'Fugitive Days' (2001)

Why he might be annoying:

    Despite participating in riots and bombings, he said, 'We weren't terrorists.... Terrorism was what was being practiced in the countryside of Vietnam by the United States.'
    He described the Weathermen philosophy as 'Bring the revolution home, kill your parents, that's where it's really at.'
    Former New Left radical Todd Gitlin said of Ayers and other Weathermen, 'They wanted to be terrorists. They planned on being terrorists.'
    He has a tattoo of the Weathermen's rainbow and lightning logo on his neck.
    In an interview with the New York Times promoting 'Fugitive Days,' he said 'I don't regret setting bombs' and 'I feel we didn't do enough.'
    In a bit of unfortunate timing, the interview was published on September 11, 2001.
    He hosted a 'meet and greet' for Barack Obama during his campaign for State Sentate (1995) and the two served together on the board of the Woods Fund of Chicago (2000-02), connections that generated controversy during the 2008 presidential campaign.

Why he might not be annoying:

    Federal charges against him were dismissed because of prosecutorial misconduct.
    After watching the documentary 'Underground,' he said he was embarrassed by 'the arrogance, the solipsism, the absolute certainty that we and we alone knew the way.'
    He denied wanting to plant more bombs and said of the New York Times interview, 'This is not a question of being misunderstood or taken out of context, but of deliberate distortion.'
    He organized the Chicago Annenberg Challenge (1993), a nationally-renowned school reform program.
    Obama commented, 'The notion that somehow as a consequence of me knowing someone who engaged in detestable acts 40 years ago, when I was eight years old, somehow reflects on me and my values doesn't make much sense.'

Credit: C. Fishel


Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

Year In Review:

    For 2024, as of last weekly ranking, Out of 10 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2023, Out of 313 Votes: 69.01% Annoying
    In 2022, Out of 102 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2021, Out of 21 Votes: 90.48% Annoying
    In 2020, Out of 293 Votes: 53.24% Annoying
    In 2019, Out of 695 Votes: 53.24% Annoying
    In 2018, Out of 684 Votes: 57.16% Annoying
    In 2017, Out of 902 Votes: 69.96% Annoying
    In 2016, Out of 264 Votes: 79.55% Annoying
    In 2015, Out of 1274 Votes: 63.11% Annoying
    In 2014, Out of 5073 Votes: 79.30% Annoying
    In 2013, Out of 5211 Votes: 67.97% Annoying
    In 2012, Out of 648 Votes: 78.40% Annoying
    In 2011, Out of 1030 Votes: 84.56% Annoying
    In 2010, Out of 3250 Votes: 75.42% Annoying
    In 2009, Out of 3565 Votes: 77.84% Annoying
    In 2008, Out of 6518 Votes: 79.83% Annoying